Four Peppercorn Steak with Red Wine Sauce
We love to cook steak this way - searing it in a hot pan and finishing it off (if necessary) in an oven while we make a quick pan sauce. Tonight we do not have stock available so we use a little water along with wine and cream to make a delicious sauce. We would have preferred stock to the water, but it wasn't essential. The sauce was yummy served in little dipping bowls along with our peppercorn steaks. Originally served as part of: Steak Dinner.
- Peppercorn Filet Mignon with Mushrooms (November 13, 2002)
- Peppercorn Steak (January 3, 2002)
Ingredients
- 4 11-ounce boneless N.Y. Strips steaks
- 1 tablespoon whole 4 peppercorn blend pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (divided)
- kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon shallot (minced)
- ¼ cup wine (dry red)
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
We start by removing the steaks from the fridge about half an hour before we want to begin cooking them. Meanwhile, we prep all the ingredients.
We start by putting the black, white, green, and pink peppercorn blend in a resealable plastic bag and crushing them with a mallet. We want coarse peppercorns to sprinkle on the steaks. We mince our shallot and get the other sauce ingredients ready. We pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
We heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. We sprinkle the coarse pepper on one side of two of the steaks. We sprinkle them with salt. When the pan is hot, we add ½ tablespoon of olive oil and when it is smoking, we put in the two steaks, pepper-side down. We sprinkle the other side of the steaks with salt. We cook over medium heat for 4 minutes, turn, and cook for another 3 minutes or so. We remove the steaks from the pan and set aside on a clean dinner plate as we get the other two steaks into the pan with the rest of the olive oil. We check the cooked steaks with our thermometer. We want the internal temperature to be at least 120 degrees for rare or 130 degrees for medium-rare. The first two steaks are done perfectly. We cover with aluminum foil as we wait for the other steaks and the sauce. When the other two steaks have been in the pan for 7 minutes, we remove them to another clean plate. These are thicker and more on the rare side so we put them on a cookie sheet into the pre-heated oven for just a few minutes and check again. When the steaks are cooked to perfection, we remove them to let them rest for 5 minutes while we prepare a quick red wine pan sauce.
We begin to saute the shallots in the pan drippings, scraping up some of the browned bits. After a minute, we add the red wine. After boiling it for 30 seconds, we add the water. We boil this for a few minutes to concentrate the flavor. Lastly, we add the cream and cook until it thickens to a nice consistency. Then we add any jus (juice) accumulated on the plates the steaks are resting on. We adjust the seasoning to taste and serve the sauce in little prep bowls for dipping.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp four-peppercorn blend (black, white, green and pink)
- 4 11-oz boneless New York strip steaks
- 1 tbsp olive oil (divided)
- kosher salt
- 1 tbsp shallot (minced)
- ¼ cup dry red wine
- ⅓ cup water (or stock)
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
What's a kid job?
A Kid job is a step kids can help with, with a grown-up nearby, not one they do on their own. Every kid is different, so go by what your child can do rather than by age. Roughly:
- Little ones (about 2 to 4) can stir, pour in ingredients a grown-up has measured, tear lettuce, wash vegetables and sprinkle toppings.
- Older kids (about 5 to 8) can also measure and level, crack eggs, whisk, roll and cut out dough, and put things together.
- Bigger kids can read the recipe aloud, keep track of the timer, and take on more of the cooking as they're ready.
Steps with a knife, microplane, skewers, stove, oven, grill or hot oil, or with raw meat, poultry or seafood, are marked Grown-up. Kids can still watch those, from a safe distance.
Take the steaks out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking and get everything else ready.
Grown-up
Heat the oven to 400°F.
Kid job
Crush the peppercorns coarsely in a resealable bag with a mallet.
Grown-up
Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Press pepper and salt onto one side of 2 steaks. Add ½ tablespoon of oil, and when it smokes, lay them in pepper side down. Salt the tops. Cook over medium heat 4 minutes, turn, and cook about 3 minutes more, to 120°F for rare or 130°F for medium-rare. Cover with foil and cook the other two the same way; finish thick ones in the oven a few minutes. Rest 5 minutes.
Sauté the shallot in the drippings 1 minute, scraping up the browned bits. Add the wine and boil 30 seconds, then the water, and boil a few minutes. Add the cream and cook until it thickens, then the juices from the steak plates. Season and serve in little bowls for dipping.